Chapter 51: Half Mountain Highway

  Such an accident obviously didn't enter Zhou Huan's mind, Hei Lian team leader had a crucial position in this operation, now suddenly lost his memory, it was a very severe blow to Zhou Huan.

  She listened to my question, turned her head and glanced at the black face, then said to me: "This task is very important for me, after going through so many dangers, so many people died, just arrived here, I can see the end point, I will definitely not give up."

  Zhou Huan said it very resolutely, and I suddenly felt like Zhu Bajie in Journey to the West, when the master was caught, he wanted to divide up the luggage.

  Now at this time, I will definitely not let her go by herself. So with a bitter smile, I said: "Alright then, since you've decided, we'll continue on, but what about the captain?"

  Zhou Huan smiled wryly at me with a hint of gratitude, saying: "He's not seriously injured and should be able to move around without any issues. Now that it's just the few of us left, we can only take him along."

  "Do you think it was someone from Zhang Zhuang's team who did this to him?"

  "No way, Zhang Zhuang himself is in a difficult situation and can't even protect himself, let alone others. Besides, even if that flower shirt is good at close combat, it's impossible for the captain to be completely defenseless."

  "Could it be that apart from Zhang Zhuang's group, there are other teams in this mountain?"

  "I don't know, but it seems that this person may not be an enemy, we don't have to worry too much. Judging from the mysterious person's skills, if he wanted to harm us, he would have made a move long ago and wouldn't have waited until now. I think he just wants to stop something from happening and doesn't want our lives."

  I think Zhou Huan's analysis makes sense, and I feel much more at ease. We discussed it for a while longer and decided to spend the night here first, and then officially start climbing tomorrow morning when it gets light.

  Back to Hei Lian and Liang Zi's side, I saw that Hei Lian had already fallen asleep. Liang Zi shrugged his shoulders at me, indicating helplessness.

  Apart from Hei Lian, the three of us took turns keeping watch at night. I was on the first shift, Liang Zi was on the second, and Zhou Huan was last.

  Everyone was exhausted from the previous commotion. The two of them tidied up a bit and lay down to rest, and before long, Liangzi's snores started ringing out.

  After going through so many things, I'm no longer as scared as before when I keep watch alone at night. Lighting a cigarette and sitting down to gaze at that cluster of skull-like grass, my heart is filled with doubt and emotion.

  I really can't figure out what happened in this mountain, the things I encountered along the way are too strange, and there's not a single thing that I can fully understand.

  Spider Swarm, Bug Child Forest, Bagua Ancient Mansion, Super Giant Insect, Zhang Zhuang Disappearance, Skull Grass Thicket, Corpse Spirit Moth, Expel Our Ghostly Children, Finally the Black-Faced One Who Lost Memory.

  Everything that has happened is just too strange, according to common sense none of it should have occurred, but I've actually encountered all of it.

  Although I don't understand the purpose of Zhou Huan's trip, I can be sure that something very important must have been discovered in this mountain, which is the only way to explain the strange things we encountered.

  I puffed on my cigarette, trying hard to analyze for a long time, but in the end, I was still completely at a loss. Looking at the pack of cigarettes, there were only a few left, and I thought to myself, who knows how many days it will take to get back, so I didn't want to smoke anymore. Since I couldn't figure it out, I might as well stop thinking about it. When the road reaches the mountain, there must be a way; where is my big road?

  I felt a wave of emotion, looked at my watch and it was already the second half of the night. I went to push Liangzi a few times, wanting him to get up and take over, but he showed no signs of waking up. He must have been exhausted too, plus his foot was still injured, so I didn't call him again. I held on for another two hours, then Zhou Huan woke up.

  She saw that the night watch was still me, and she understood what was going on. She smiled wryly and let me go rest. I didn't want to leave a woman alone on night watch, but thinking about having to climb this high mountain again tomorrow, I didn't bother with politeness. Yawning, I lay down in Zhou Huan's original spot, and sleepiness hit me immediately. I soon fell asleep.

  A peaceful night's sleep, and when I woke up the next day, I found that everyone else was already awake before me.

  Zhou Huan was checking our equipment over there, Hei Lian was still standing alone in a daze, while Liang Zi was sitting on the ground examining his foot injury.

  I went over to Liangzi's side to take a look and found that the wound on his foot had scabbed over, so it shouldn't be a big deal. It seems like Zhou Huan's medicine is quite effective. As long as he's careful when walking, there shouldn't be any problems.

  I saw that Liangzi was fine, and then I came to Zhou Huan's side. She had divided the equipment into three portions. Liangzi's backpack was full of ropes, engineer shovels, and other related tools. My backpack mostly contained food and drinking water, while Zhou Huan's bag had some weapons and ammunition.

  Zhou Huan saw that I didn't seem to understand, so he smiled and said: "This is the most standard distribution method. Liangzi has a good physique and great strength, but he's too greedy for food, so these heavier tools are left for him to carry. You're more meticulous, but lack combat ability, so the food is given to you. Now that our captain has lost his memory, I'll definitely be leading the charge, so I'll carry the weapons and ammunition. Got it?"

  Although what she said made me uncomfortable, it was indeed reasonable. I gave her a thumbs up and said "you're awesome", then went back to bandage Liang Zi's wound.

  After everyone had finished packing, I took out my backpack and looked inside to find over a dozen packets of compressed biscuits, some chocolate and beef jerky, as well as several bottles of drinking water. I figured that if we were careful with our food, it should last us three or four days without any major issues. So I pulled out some food for everyone to have for breakfast, and after eating, we officially started climbing the mountain.

  Hei Lian may not remember us, but he seems to be getting along with Liang Zi. Although he has lost his memory, he appears to understand and even knows to support Liang Zi, making him feel embarrassed as he repeatedly thanks him.

  I walked in front with Zhou Huan, while Liang Zi and Hei Lian followed behind. We were deep in the woods, and even if we looked up, we couldn't see very far ahead. Although the mountain was quite steep, it was okay because we could grab onto tree trunks to pull ourselves up, so it wasn't too difficult to walk.

  This seems to have a bit of a mountaineering tour feel, and everyone's mood has improved significantly. Liangzi kept talking non-stop to Hei Mian, but I don't know if he could understand him.

  We rested for ten minutes every hour we walked forward, it was okay at first, but slowly everything in sight turned green, the trees on this mountain seemed to all look the same, after looking for a long time my eyes felt especially sore.

  No longer looking around, the four of them continued climbing upwards, and nothing changed in the whole morning, nor did anything unexpected happen.

  By noon, we found a relatively flat place to stop and eat lunch and rest. Our clothes were already soaked with sweat, plus they were particularly dirty, giving off a foul smell.

  When people are exhausted, eating something makes them especially sleepy. However, they can't sleep at this time. After everyone has eaten their fill and rested for a while, they continue to climb upwards.

  Another hour or so later, the environment began to undergo some changes. First, the temperature dropped a bit, and then a layer of fog slowly appeared in the forest.

  At this time, I remembered when we were still at the foot of the mountain by the river. At that time, it was also a clear sky, but when I observed the mountain, I found that the upper half of the mountain was shrouded in dark clouds, as if they had been inserted into the sky. I reckon now we have climbed to the position covered by the dark clouds.

  It's really good, the higher you go, the thicker the fog gets, and your line of sight starts to get blurry. In the end, you can only see about 10 meters in front of you, it feels like entering a fairyland.

  After going through so many things, I wouldn't consider this place a paradise. I just think: as long as it's not haunted, I'll be grateful to heaven and earth.

  Without the Black Face Captain leading the team, Zhou Huan looked a lot more pressured. She had already hung her gun in front of her early on, probably for convenience to shoot at any time.

  I turned back to look at Liangzi and Heilian, seeing that Liangzi was also imitating Zhou Huan's style by hanging his gun on his waist, while Heilian remained unchanged, silently supporting Liangzi.

  I found the two brothers to be quite all right, and I felt a sense of comfort in my heart. Everyone continued walking upwards for over an hour, after which the fog became extremely thick. Although we didn't need to turn on our flashlights yet, visibility was reduced to just a few meters.

  We were afraid of getting lost, so Zhou Huan and I waited for a while, with Liangzi and Heimian sandwiched between us, one on the left and one on the right. As we walked, I suddenly found that everything in front of me had changed, and the trees seemed to have disappeared suddenly.

  Just when we thought thick fog had completely obscured our view, I suddenly found my foot stepping on flat ground, and then all of us stood up straight.

  As I looked up, I strangely found that on this half mountain waist, a highway along the mountain actually appeared.

  I remember when I was in that mountain village, the old Miao man had mentioned it before. According to legend, there is a highway on this mountain. At that time, I thought he was just exaggerating, but unexpectedly, this road really exists.

  I let Liangzi and Heilian rest in place, then went with Zhou Huan to check this road. I walked a few steps forward, squatted down to take a look, and found that the road was very flat, with an estimated width of about three trucks side by side. Except for not being paved with asphalt or cement, it's no different from the roads we usually see.

  The road has obviously been abandoned for a long time, and the surface of sand, stone and mud is covered with a layer of moss-like plants, which looks somewhat eerie in this thick fog.

  I am very puzzled in my heart. This project looks not small, what kind of person would build this highway on this desolate and uninhabited mountain waist? What is its purpose?

  I and Zhou Huan checked around, except for this highway, nothing unusual was found. On the way back, I asked her: "Has your collected data recorded this highway?"

  Zhou Huan seemed to be thinking about something, furrowing his brow, and only replied after a while: "I just knew that there should have been some project here, but I didn't expect it to be a highway."

  At this time, I suddenly thought of those corpses buried in the grass, would those people be caught to repair the road? But where does this road lead to, and why did all those people die in the end?

  I told Zhou Huan about my idea, and she also thought it was possible. However, these guesses didn't have much practical significance for us at the moment. After reuniting on the way back, we started heading towards the right side of the highway based on intuition.

  The ground was covered with moss-like plants, soft and spongy underfoot. Although it was easy to walk on, it made me feel very uncomfortable. The visibility was also extremely low, and I started to get tense slowly.

  Everyone was silent and walked along the highway in a row. I gradually felt that the road surface began to appear with a slight slope, and it should be built on a mountain.

  I originally thought that the end of this road wouldn't be too far away and some kind of building would soon appear, but unexpectedly what followed was a long journey.

  We walked for an entire afternoon and the road beneath our feet didn't change at all, only the view became darker and darker, probably because night was approaching.